Portland IX

Friday, November 30, 2007 - Thanksgiving was great, but I missed my little brasilian bombshell and it was nice to see her again. Jeff, Kira, and Beck are on vacation in Costa Rica so Ana and I watched the house while they were gone. Today Aghila (a caretaker, also looking after the house and the cat - Mr. Portland) and her husband Kalki were at the house. They cooked us an authentic Indian lunch and the 4 of us ate together. I have never engaged in such a culturally fascinating lunch before..

Ana and I enjoyed a beautiful week together but tonight she goes back to Brasil to visit her family. Every year she goes back for an extended period of time - this year, as is the case with most years, she is going for 7 weeks. She was excited to see her family but we knew we'd miss each other. While I know this is the case, at the same time I have January 19th to look forward to. I honestly don't remember the last time I was this excited about something.

Upon returning to the house, Aghila and her husband Kalki were there. They are fantastic people - in fact, I think everyone deserves to simply talk with them for a few hours. They are the epitome of spiritual people. Kalki was a Yogi that walked the Himalayas for many years, meditating and studying. He is now a professor in the field of religion. Among much wisdom they shared with me, I jotted down a couple things they said that impacted me -

"The mind is the stepmother, the heart is the mother." Meaning, follow your heart and don't let your mind get in the way.

"When the mind is silent, the universe surrenders itself to you." Pretty self-explanitory.

I leave for Half Moon Bay tomorrow as I make my way back to Houston.